


Christmas dinners are awkward affairs

by Pizzama8



Series: Recovery [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:28:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pizzama8/pseuds/Pizzama8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat and Nepeta go to a christmas dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas dinners are awkward affairs

Christmas is all about hate and turkey.

"I fucking hate snow."

"What! Why? It's so cute and fluffy."

"It's frozen water crystals. They're cold, uncomfortable and force all public transportation out of business for a day so you're forced to walk two miles in the fucking cold to get to a christmas party."

"Hey, you could atleast purrtend to enjoy my company!"

"Sorry."

Two trolls walk down the street as snow falls around them. It's silent save for the crunch of their boots. The smaller of the two by a head of height is dressed in a long green winter coat wrapped tightly around her; her hands stuffed in her pockets. Her nose is bright olive from the cold, her hair is neatly combed and short framing her feminine face.

The taller of the two in contrast wore a grey coat and scarf. His shoulders hunch against the wind and his hands shoved firmly in his pockets. A grimace sits easily on his face.

The girl hums to herself as she walks and skips every third step. They walk past cars sitting quietly with the moon reflecting eerily off the vehicles.

After a while the boy pulls out his left hand and dangles it by her side; Smiling she locks her right hand in his and they proceed down the street together. They pass a group of youths in hoodies gathered around a fire in a metal container. They make a point to not pay any attention to each other. 

The girl next to the boy shivers and they stop.

"Are you okay Nepeta?"

"yeah! Just a bit cold."

He seems deep in thought for a second but then takes off his scarf and wraps it around her neatly. She blushes but he just pulls his coat around him and drags her forward.

They finally reach a sparesly decorated house; lights hang in a tree outside and a holly ring hangs at the front door. The boy removes his hand from hers and knocks sharply on the door. He begins stamping the ground in an attempt to kick off the worst of the snow.

They are greated by a woman in a purple sweater, she has a glass of wine in one hand and a smirk on her face. He does his best to smile, Nepeta making up for him with a more genuine one.

"Karkat, Nepeta i'm glad you could join us! Please come in!"

"Thanks for the invitation Rose."

"Oh no problem at all!"

They step into the house; Nepeta first. The building is warm and gives the impression that the walls themselves are intoxicated; chatter can be heard from a room down a hallway furnished with strange and macabre paintings. Rose leads the two arrivals down the hall; pausing to indicate where they could put their coats.

She enters the room to cheers and laughter and Nepeta follows quickly where she is greeted by several people at once. Karkat hesitates for a moment and then enters, the silence hits like a bombshell until a boy wearing shades clears his throat and the conversation resumes.

A boy in blue is sat in an armchair with a blue blooded troll on his lap, they are in hushed discussion and occasionaly giggle between themselves. Besides the chair there are two sofas facing a coffee table; on one sofa is the boy with shades who is busily shuffling a deck of cards; several glasses of wine, whisky or some unnamed alcoholic substance sit on the table.  A laughing human girl with a smile that could only be achieved through years of braces and dentistry sits next to him. The boy in shades, wearing a red long sleeved shirt and black trousers is staring intently into the blue and red eyes of the troll opposite. Finally he stops shuffling and deals three cards face down;

"Alright Captor, what're these three?"

"Ace, four and queen."

"Of?"

"Spades diamonds and spades again. Suck it Dave!"

Dave slowly turned the cards over and much to everyones astonishment he was right.

"Dayum sollux. You have to show me that trick sometimes!"

"We've been over this Dave. I'm not helping you scam some casinos out of millions!"

Sollux's speech is slow and deliberate, each syllable pronounced clearly and concisely as though practiced. He leans back with a smug look on his faceand the girl next to him rolls her eyes and talks to the one opposite her.

"Honestly Jade, you and Dave shouldn't encourage him!"

"Sorry Aradia, but it is kind of cool that he managed to keep his powers after the game!"

"They have very limited uses, i can assure you!"

"You liked them a lot last night."

She blushed and slapped his arm when the people around them erupted into laughter. 

Nepeta giggled a little and sat down on the sofa with Sollux and Aradia. Karkat stood around awkwardly before settling on sitting next to Jade. As he sat down Aradia gave him a quick glare but returned to the conversation with a smile; he shifted uneasily in his seat and became suddenly very self conscious.

Rose whirled around in a purple flurry, pressing a glass of something strong into Karkats hand and a glass half filled with wine into Nepetas. He took it greatly and sipped it; the liqour burning its way down his throat and eating his unease.

Slowly he shifted into the conversation; it'd been a while since he'd talked in a group of people and he was well out of practice in the fine art of pointless conversation.

Half an hour passed before finally they were all called to the kitchen.  Nine hungry and slightly drunk people shuffled into the dining room; a great wave of delicious smells hit them like a tsunami  and they all sat down.

A wide variety of foods were available; plenty of turky and bacon and sausage, followed by steamed carrots, brussel sprouts, hash browns, peas and sweet corn. There were three gravy boats set up along the table and they were quickly passed around as the guests filled their plates.

Karkat sat opposite Aradia and whilst they ate she fixed him with a glare; he returned it with one of his own. Not about to be intimidated. 

Their silent argument did not go unnoticed and Nepeta looked perplexedly between the two, looking to Sollux for an answer but he just shrugged. No one else on the table had noticed so they continued their meal. 

"I think that maybe both of you should go talk it out outside. I will not have my dinner ruined by a stupid argument."

A tall serene troll with short black hair stood up at the end of the table; throwing an accusatory glance in their direction. Aradia looked away but Karkat wasn't about to let it lie.

"I wasn't even fucking aware we were arguing; she's been staring daggers at me for the past hour without so much as an explanation!"

"Outside Karkat, do not disturb the meal for the rest of us!"

"Sorry Kanaya."

He growled, stood up and stormed out; Kanaya fixed her gaze on Aradia and she slowly left as well. She quietly walked over and closed the door behind them.

"Did i miss something?"

Nepeta asked, her voice filled with concern.

"This was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Shut up Dave, Aradias justifiably pissed at him."

"I know but don't you have an entire relationship or some shit dedicated to hate?"

"Yeah..."

Solluxs voice fades off as he stares at the door.

"Guys? Why're Karkat and Aradia suddenly kismesis now?"

"They're not Nepeta, well not yet."

"What do you mean not yet!"

"Aradia got to watch herself die an infinite number of times in the game; that makes you appreciate life a little more than most and Karkat tried to kill himself. I think she took that as an insult to all her hard work."

Rose offered whilst swirling her glass of wine.

"He what!"

Nepetas voice increased in pitch and Dave put his head in his hand:

"Shit."

Outside Karkat was trying to whisper and yell at the same time.

"What the everloving fuck has got your panties in a twist?"

"I doubt a coward like you could understand."

"That's not much of a fucking explanation!"

"If you spent eternity watching your friends die over and over; unable to help anyone and then finally after sacrificing an infinite amount of copies of yourself you see the light. There is your reward; all your friends are alive and well and everything is fine and fucking dandy. It was hard earned and now you can stop and relax, give your relationship the time you wanted to. Only one of your friends has decided to waste your hard won gift of life and now your matesprite isn't sleeping, your best friend won't leave the hospital and on top of everything you can't help but feel seething hate at the idiot who tried to commit suicide."

"Aradia..."

"No, listen, so you pick up the pieces of your matesprite who blames himself and move on. Then all of a sudden the same guy who caused all these problems, who threw your hard won victory back in your face. Just comes waltzing in with a matesprite he's dating as a last resort as if nothing happened at all."

"Would you fucking listen to me! You have no fucking clue what I was going through!."

"So you broke up with terezi? What does that fucking matter! Sollux was on feferi almost instantly after i died! Get over yourself already, life happens and honestly if you're too weak to deal with it then maybe you should just go swallow a tub of pills. That way kanaya can't save you at the last fucking second."

His face went through a mixture of shock, anger and finally pain. Rallying himself he tried to speak.

"Aradia I was alone! For nearly three months no one talked to me or said anything, it was because of you Sollux no longer had any time to hang out with me. Kanaya was pre-occupied with Rose at the time and Terezi was fucking gamzee in some hidden corner of existance! I was alone and isolated and unable to sleep. I had no reason to live, no reason why I should carry on trying; as far as i was concerned i no longer had any friends."

She shakes her head in disbelief and crosses her arms.

"I hate you Karkat, sollux didn't sleep for a week and barely ate. Kanaya was by your bedside the entire time you were in your god damn coma. You caused so much pain and trauma without even bothering to think about it! Everyone feels sorry for you but I resent you for what you did."

For a moment they glare at each other and then they both violently kiss. 

Behind them the door swings open and Nepeta stares at them. Karkat quickly pulls away from Aradia and turns to Nepeta. She just shakes her head and tears begin to form in her eyes.

"Don't bother asshole. I get it i'm not an idiot you could've atleast tried to afford me the deceny of caring."

She pushed past them both and grabbed her coat before rushing out the door.

"Nepeta!"

"Looks like you broke another heart, can't you do anything without hurting someone?"

He turns to her but bites back a rebuke and chases after Nepeta; leaving his coat behind.

In the doorway a nervous Jade appeared and she turned to Aradia.

"Where'd they go?"

She simply shrugged and re-entered the room; taking her place next to Sollux.

"Nepeta!"

"Go away!"

"Wait!"

"No! I'm going to equius, he's the only one i can trust apparently!"

"Nepeta please listen!"

"No! They all knew and nobody thought to tell me? Even Eridan of all people knew! Even feferi? Only equius and I got left in the dark!"

"Actually..."

She stopped and turned on him, tears were rolling down her cheeks and she had a desperate look in her eyes.

"He knew didn't he? Even my own fucking moirail knew and he said nothing!"

He couldn't meet her gaze. She wiped her eyes and spoke sharply.

"Show me your right arm."

"Nepeta."

"Do it!"

He rolled his sleeve up hesitantly revealing the scars from his suicide attempt and further up his arm; older scars. she rolled up her own sleeve and showed her own right arm; on it near the top were three small white scars.

"Remember what I said?"

He nods nervously.

"Remember when straight after the game we met up and I found those scars? The ones Kanaya probably knows about? Do you remember how i said that for everytime you cut yourself I'd do it as well?"  
   
He nods slowly.

"You cut yourself three times before realising i was telling the truth. That promise still stands."

"Nepeta what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go ahead and prove a point since self harming didn't stop you."

She turned to move but he grabbed her, pulling her into a hug.

"Nepeta please stop it! You don't have to fucking do that i'm fine now!"

"I have to! Otherwise you might do it again! You don't understand at all! What if you had died? What was I supposed to do then, what would Kanaya do then!"

She struggled weakly in his arms, fighting back her tears.

"No one told me Karkat, no one! If you'd died without me being there for you I don't know what I would've done. Just remember that okay? Next time you think about it remember that you're commiting suicide for the both of us!"

Finally her struggles came to stop and she held him as if he might vanish any moment. He let out a small relieved sigh.

"I will and I'm sorry nobody told you."

"It doesn't matter, i'm not going back. Just tell them I was tired or something."

"Okay, what will you do?"

"Meet with Roxy, I think I need a drink."

They both laugh and she slowly pulls away from him and walks down the street. He watches her leave and breathes a sigh of relief but then shivers; it was a really stupid idea to go out without a coat on.

**Author's Note:**

> This leads on directly after my previous work.


End file.
